1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that form an image on a sheet of paper.
2. Description of Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, any predetermined adjustments have been performed before it has released so that a floating or separating condition of sheets of paper in a feeding tray, a loop-shaped condition of the sheet of paper in registration rollers, a detached, condition of the sheet of paper in a transfer unit and a fixing portion or the like may be made optimal. Further, even after the apparatus has been forwarded, fixed adjustments have been conducted because there may be a case where a previously set value has been out of place at the optimal value based on a change over time of the image forming apparatus and/or a variation of parts thereof.
The majority of adjustment of the conditions in the apparatus such as the floating condition of the sheets of paper in the feeding tray has relied on experience and/or intuition of a service man so that it has taken an excessive period of time to adjust the apparatus. On the adjustment, many waste sheets have generated. In recent years, due to the enlargement of the image forming apparatus, the extension of capable media and the like, portions to be adjusted have increased in the image forming apparatus and contents of the adjustment have complicated. This causes a workload to be increased on the service man and productivity to be reduced.
In order to save labor based on reduction of the adjustment time and to reduce downtime, a method of detecting the condition of each device by detection means such as a sensor and adjusting each condition thereof by controlling each device based on this detection result has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-276890 has disclosed an image forming apparatus having an adjustment mode for adjusting a number of revolutions of a separation fan blowing air for separating sheets of paper in a tray so that the number of revolutions of the separation fan which has been detected by a detection sensor for detecting the number of revolutions has stood within a previously set target value range.